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In February, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released proposed guidelines to strengthen nutrition and physical activity in schools. As part of the improvements, schools will be asked to establish limits on food and beverage marketing in their wellness policies.

Just how much food and beverage advertising to children see in schools? The answer: A lot. Food companies get pretty creative when it comes to targeting youth, and the USDA’s new standards could have the opportunity to cover all of the ways kids see marketing during the school day, including:

Scoreboards

Curricula, textbooks, and educational materials

Vending machines and cooler exteriors

Fundraisers

Coupon reward programs

Signs and posters

Sponsorship of programs, events, or teams

Food and beverage cups or containers

Food display racks

Sports equipment

School supplies

School publications

School TV and radio stations

School websites

Scoreboards

Curricula, textbooks, and other educational materials

Vending machine and cooler exteriors

Fundraisers

Coupon reward programs

Sound like a ton of advertising? It is. And it happens more often than you think.

Most health and nutrition advocates are applauding the USDA for finally addressing this issue. Still, some feel that this effort may not be good enough. In fact, Michele Simon, consultant for Corporate Accountability International, and Josh Golin, associate director of Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood, think these guidelines could set a dangerous precedent:

To our knowledge this is the first time a federal agency has essentially given the green light to any form of marketing in schools, setting a dangerous precedent that goes far beyond food marketing. The danger is that in attempting to set a ceiling that prohibits advertising for unhealthy foods, the USDA will inadvertently set a floor which opens the floodgates for many other types of marketing in schools.

Simon and Golin bring up a good point. Intentional or not, by telling companies they can only market “healthy” products in schools, the USDA establishes the school environment as an appropriate place to target children. And, how will “healthy” vs. “unhealthy” be determined? We know that food companies themselves certainly aren’t capable of making that distinction:

And what about brands like Lunchables, which have a few varieties that meet nutrition standards, while most do not? Should a pizza company be allowed to advertise in schools, simply because they have one pizza out of 1,000 possible topping, crust, and cheese combinations that meet school lunch standards? Whether intended or not, any product being advertised on school grounds is subsequently carrying the school’s stamp of approval for the entire brand.

Schools should be one of the most trusted and safest environments for kids. Instead, they’ve become another means for companies to entice our most vulnerable and impressionable population, hooking them on products that aren’t good for them.

At it’s most recent annual shareholders meeting, McDonald’s was once again faced with criticism that it is a purveyor of junk food that markets to children. Speakers from the advocacy group, Corporate Accountability International, health professionals, parents and 9-year-old Hannah Robertson used the meeting as a means to confront CEO, Don Thompson about the companies poor practices. Thompson went to great lengths to defend the company, mostly with outright lies about how the company sells ‘high-quality’ products and doesn’t market to children.

Riding on the heels of this altercation, I was shocked and disgusted to discover Thompson’s latest attempt to protect McDonald’s image. Over the last few days, several media outlets have been reporting news of the CEO’s alleged ’20 pound weight loss’ which he claims included daily consumption of McDonald’s food.

As you might have noticed from my previous post on Coca-Cola, when the junk food industry starts handing out diet advice and weight loss tips, it really gets my blood boiling. All they are doing is making attempts to clean up their image, sell more products, and distract the public from the fact that the products they create, by-and-large, are detrimental to our health.

How can Thompson, in good conscience, talk about eating McDonald’s and losing weight while simultaneously introducing products like the Mega Potato in Japan? This ‘side item’ is the equivalent of two large fries stuffed into one container and packs 1,142 calories (the largest amount of calories any single McDonald’s item has contained in the company’s history.)

The fact is, the majority of the food in McDonald’s product portfolio contains ingredients that are high in fat, sugar and salt, and low in fiber and vitamins. McDonald’s food also contains many chemical additives, including propylene glycol (a less toxic version of anti-freeze), and azodicarbonamide (most commonly used in the production of foamed plastics.)

Losing weight isn’t easy, especially when we are constantly being handed conflicting advice about how to do it. Maybe Thompson did lose some weight; he is not the first person to claim that it can be done while eating fast food. But, weight loss is not equivalent to being healthy. If he ate less calories and exercised (as he claims), then yes, weight-loss is possible even when you are eating a lousy diet. But, that doesn’t mean you should do it.